Evicted

It's expensive being poor. The struggle for decent (often barely livable) housing is a full-time job, and even in a depressed city like Milwaukee holding on to the worst places to live, with no working plumbing and cockroach infestations, can consume almost all of a renter's income. In 2008, Matthew Desmond moved into a Wisconsin trailer park to study the lives of poor residents and their landlords, and the frequent evictions that throw people further into desperation and poverty. He found a story that hasn't been told with this depth of reporting and empathy, a fascinating and necessary read for anyone who wants to understand how many of us live.